Computational Toolset for Carbon-Capture Technology Development Ready for Commercial Use

Mr. Douglas Hollett, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy, has declared the Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (CCSI) Computational Toolset ready for commercial use to support carbon-capture technology development. The announcement was made at a Carbon Capture Simulation for Industry Impact (CCSI2) Industry Advisory Board Meeting held in conjunction with the 2016 Carbon Capture Technology Project Review Meeting, hosted by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

The CCSI Computational Toolset is a comprehensive, integrated suite of validated, multi-scale computational models and simulation tools that provide new capabilities to rapidly take carbon-capture concepts from the laboratory to power plants at lower cost and with reduced risks than would be accomplished by traditional research and development pathways.

The toolset is the only suite of computational tools and models specifically tailored to help maximize learning during the scale-up process to reduce risk. This is critically important since pilot projects represent an expensive, limited opportunity to collect the data necessary to move to commercial scale. By maximizing the learning during such pilot projects, the toolset can help reduce the timeline for commercialization and enable greater investment confidence. The toolset can also be employed in related industries to enable faster, more cost effective scale-up of other new technologies.

Secretary Hollett noted in his keynote address that implementation of the CCSI Computational Toolset in the commercial energy sector will be a critical component in meeting the Obama Administration's goal of limiting climate change and achieving a low-carbon energy future.

The toolset was developed by scientists and engineers participating in CCSI, a public-private partnership composed of national labs, academia, and industry. Launched in 2011, the partnership's overarching goal was to develop the models and simulation tools that have become the CCSI Computational Toolset.

Based on the success of the CCSI team in applying the toolset to industry relevant projects, the Energy Department established CCSI2 to create formal partnerships with technology developers to accelerate the development of next-generation carbon-capture technologies. These partnerships will ensure that the full benefits of intermediate-scale projects are reaped by larger-scale projects.

'The CCSI Computational Toolset has shown great success in understanding and predicting carbon capture system performance,' noted NETL's David Miller. 'We anticipate continued success through CCSI2 to support the development and scale up of new carbon capture technologies.'

Carbon capture and storage is one approach for significantly reducing domestic and global carbon dioxide emissions, an important step in mitigating climate change. The Energy Department seeks to develop second-generation carbon-capture technologies that will be ready for demonstration-scale testing around 2020, with the goal of enabling commercial deployment by 2030. The partnerships formed through CCSI2, in conjunction with the CCSI Computational Toolset, will enable industry partners to reduce the time, risk, and expense of developing these technologies. (Public Now)